MISS AMERICA AND THE MOMENT OF TRUTH

So, before we get started, let me say that this post is not about sexual preferences or gay rights. That's a whole different blog.
It's all over the news that Miss California, Carrie Prejean, lost the Miss America beauty pageant crown during her interview. The question, posed from Perez Hilton, a homosexual celebrity blogger, asked where Miss Prejean stood on the issue of same-sex marriage. Here is her response:

"I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman ... No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised."

"It's ugly ... I think it's ridiculous that she got first runner-up. That is not the value of 95 percent of the people in this audience. Look around this audience and tell me how many gay men there are." - Scott Ihrig, a gay man, who attended the pageant with his partner. "

Blogger Perez Hilton was also enraged, calling Prejean a "stuipd b***h" in a video tirade he aired on his blog.

(quotes taken from foxnews.com)

So here's the thing. If you don't want to hear Miss California's answer to the question, DON'T ASK IT! I'm amazed and frustrated by the idea that Miss Prejean should have "lied" or otherwise skirted the question under the pretense that Miss America is supposed to be "politically correct." Since when did political correctness exclude truth? After reading her comments I was actually proud of her, not because of her answer, but becuase of her willingess and ability to stand up for what she believed in even when she knew it was going to cost her everything she was working towards. Isn't that what the first amendment is all about ... the freedom to speak?

It's not like she got up on the stage, grabbed the microphone, and started using derogatory or disrespectiful language while judging people to Hell. SHE ANSWERED YOUR QUESTION ... and she answered it honestly and respectfully, even though the room was full of people who, apparently, vehmently disagreed. Doesn't that say more about her character than the answer itself?

The official site for the pageant, missamerica.org, lists that a candidate must "meet character criteria as set forth by the Miss America Organization." Furthermore, the site states that "the Miss America program exists to provide personal and professional opportunities for young women to promote their voices in culture, politics and the community."

Did I miss something here? Character criteria ... to promote their voices in culutre, politics, and the community ... isn't that what Miss Prejean did? And now she is being punished for it both in the pageant (Perez Hilton mentioned to Larry King that her answer is why she didn't become Miss America saying it was the worst answer in pageant history) and in the public square?

The irony to me in all of this is the fact that while those who are fighting for gay rights feel they are battling against discrimination, they discriminated against Miss California. They (voiced by Perez Hilton) asked the qeustion, didn't like the answer, and are punishing her for it.

As for the Christians involved in all of this, my heart broke even further when Charmaine Koonce, the mother of Miss New Mexico USA Bianca Matamoros-Koonce, shouted across the lobby after the show, that "the Bible says marriage is between Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve!"

So what do I tell my youngest daughter, Sadie, who thinks she is a princess? I am going to tell her that the truth is the truth no matter what. That while it is never wrong to stand up for what you believe in, it may cost you. That I will always value her integrity above her "correctness." That she will always be my princess.

And that apparently being Miss America doesn't make you anything more than a pretty puppet who is only allowed to say what is politically correct, even if you have to lie in the moment of truth.